Step-by-Step Guide to Print Personalised T-Shirts
Whether you are looking to promote a new brand or you want an outfit for members during a family reunion, you have a good reason to print personalised T-shirts to grace the occasion. Your wardrobe is probably filled with T-shirts, but did you know there is room to personalise T-shirts? This guide would lead you through the steps you should follow from the word go up to ready to wear tees.
Get a design
The first step is to get a design. Otherwise, you can’t print without a design of your choice. In short, have ready the designs that reinforce your story. If you don’t have a design yet, get one from great designers in town, the designer who can grasp your idea by hand and put it into a visual reality. Before you get a design, try the one that speaks aloud about your brand or statement or what you stand for, whatever the reason for printing the T-shirt. In a nutshell, take time to design something that reflects your identity or brand. Either use a logo, text, a picture, or a combination. Keep in mind that your design should work with every fabric or colour. If you want to print your design on black or shades of black, choose lighter colours for your designs and vice versa. If you can’t pool through the design phase alone, seek professional assistance from seasoned designers to get stellar T-shirt designs that look great when printed onto the T-Shirts.
Budget and quantity
Before you proceed to print your T-shirts, estimate the budget and quantity to print. Pro tip – bulk printing reduces the cost significantly. Order printing in bulk if you are selling the T-shirts to improve the profit margin. Aside from knowing the right quantity to print, know the sizes and the amount of each size to print, medium, large, small, extra-large, etc. If you are printing for merchandise, remember there are more popular sizes than others, but you should ensure you cover a wide range of sizes. Also, factor in the fact that manufacturers charge differently for each size. Having a set-out budget will inform what method of printing you will use. Printing methods differ in prices, and the higher the cost of printing, the higher the quality of prints.
Printing method
Several factors inform which method to use; these factors are; cost, method, appearance, T-shirt quality, production time, and the type of material.
Screen printing: It can be done by hand or machine. Either way, screen printing is the mother method of printing T-shirts. You first print your design and use it for mass printing of T-shirts. Screen printing is reliable and affordable for large orders. The flipside to this method is, you will have to create a new screen for every colour hence might end up being pricey for multi-coloured designs.
Vinyl graphics: It is created by transferring graphics through printing. What is different from screen printing is the looks and texture; they seem to appear bolder and dimensional.
Direct-to-garment – DTG: It is a method that uses inkjets to free form print onto the T-shirt. It sprays ink onto the T-shirt like when it is printing onto paper.
Find a printer
After all the above is settled, it is now time to find a printer. You can choose to print locally or online.